What year is it? There are scores of protests over racial injustice and civil rights. There’s rioting and police brutality. A global pandemic kills tens of thousands of Americans. A bitter presidential election featuring a former vice president. Debates over law and order and the limits of free speech. Of course, you could be talking about this year, with its collision of cataclysmic crises. But that also summarized 1968, which also featured the shocking assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy, which fed into the massive violence in Chicago during the August Democratic... Read More

The Putnam Museum & Science Center’s virtual Mad Scientist Ball, on Saturday, Oct. 17, raised $26,735, with donations still coming in. “I am THRILLED with the success of the event,” Nisha Ladlee, the Putnam’s vice president of development, said Monday by e-mail. “Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves. Eric Sorenson was a phenomenal emcee and Emily Calandrelli was wonderful as our celebrity guest. This was the Putnam’s first time holding a virtual fundraiser and we are grateful for the support from our community locally, but also to those who tuned in and supported from different... Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL — Western Illinois University’s chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society was scheduled to host its 48th annual induction ceremony just prior to the Spring 2020 commencement, but the event was cancelled by COVID-19. Admission to Phi Kappa Phi is by invitation only, and invitations are extended to the top 7.5 percent of juniors, the top 10 percent of seniors and the top 10 percent of graduate students. The honor society is open to all academic disciplines. The ceremony also recognized scholarship and undergraduate research award winners. This year’s... Read More

Western Illinois University alumna Tyanna J. Buie, of Detroit, MI, is one of five artists chosen to collaborate on a 7,400-square-foot mural in downtown Milwaukee, called “Voting Rights are Human Rights.” Buie received her bachelor’s degree from WIU in art in 2006, and is now an assistant professor and printmaking section chair for the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. The mural, by internationally-acclaimed artist Shepard Fairey and his Obey Giant team, was started on the north side of the Colby Abbott building last week. The central image is of an African American man... Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL — According to the Western Illinois University Presidential Search Committee, six finalists will be considered for the position of Western’s 12th president. Interviews will begin Monday, Oct. 19. The finalists who will participate in virtual on-campus interviews include: Monday, Oct. 19: Martin Abraham, interim president, Western Illinois University. Tuesday, Oct. 20: Bahman Ghorashi, former provost and vice president for academic affairs, Tennessee Tech University. Wednesday, Oct. 21: Cady Short-Thompson, provost, Hope College (Holland, MI). Friday, Oct. 23: Steve... Read More

Champaign, IL, artist Steven Hudson will have a solo exhibition of his paintings, “Adaptations,” on display through Friday, Nov. 20 at the Western Illinois University Art Gallery. According to his artist statement, Hudson’s work navigates the space of an imagined post apocalypse, depicting a remnant human presence that navigates a bleak landscape. The people and animals exist without direction or purpose among the familiar debris of our time. The work forebodes our current environmental annihilation. Hudson seeks to record a sometimes beautiful, but always melancholy, portrait... Read More

Saturday In The Arts is a weekly look at a personality, place, trend or topic of interest to the Quad-Cities. It runs every Saturday morning on your site for fun, free, local entertainment and features, QuadCities.com. I know it’s faintly ridiculous to watch so much film and TV on my iPhone, but life in pandemic-plagued 2020 has glued me to the really small screen to an unprecedented degree. It’s pretty much my lone companion before falling asleep every night, and due to the seemingly inexhaustible smorgasbord of content on Netflix (my go-to app), I’ve been binge-watching a lot. It’s provided... Read More

2020 has certainly been a life-altering, challenging year, but Freddy Allen is getting by with a little help from his friends. The 50-year-old Davenport jazz pianist and singer has been a professional musician for 37 years, performing all over the globe. Spending most of his career in Chicago, Allen moved to Davenport three years ago to be close to family and become a part of the vibrant music scene in the Quad-Cities. He hopes to travel and tour with his music again as soon as the pandemic is over. On Saturday at 7 p.m., Allen is launching a series of online concerts, “Freddy and Friends,”... Read More

The Western Illinois University Art Gallery is hosting an exhibition by the Experiencing Veterans and Artists Collaborations (EVAC) Project through Friday, Nov. 6. Through “Bridging the Gap,” EVAC uses storytelling and art to educate the public about life in the military. EVAC curators have interviewed veterans about their experiences and artists have made an edition of prints based on their interpretation of those stories. Veterans who participated in the project served from W.W. II through the post 9-11 period, in all branches of the armed services. Sections of the interviews are... Read More

This weekend, YouTube and the National Independent Venue Association are doing an awesome thing for local music venues nationwide, and I’m sure many of you have heard about the star-studded Save Our Stages Fest. It’s the kind of huge, publicity-grabbing event that gets a ton of attention with people in markets across the country. Which is a good thing, because it’s for a good cause, and it needs to get in front of a large group of people to make that positive impact. I do not begrudge that at all, and I wholeheartedly encourage people to check it out, and any other event of that... Read More